Flush closing sliding door assembly



Oct. 25, 1966 v. M. SAUDEK ETAL 3,280,506

FLUSH CLOSING SLIDING DOOR ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 23, 1964 INVENTORS VI-CTOIG M. 3 9005% tfasspH R009 7/ Y-lI-aM '5. M

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FLUSH CLOSING SLIDING noon ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 23, 1964 INVEN roRs M6702 M. 540056 tfosspw R/QDfl/VY/ y-A- W ,qrroeusy.

United States Patent T 3,280,506 FLUSH CLOSING SLIDENG DOOR ASSEMBLY Victor M. Saudek, 7916 McConnell Ave., Los Angeles, Calif, and Joseph Radanyi, 1441 Angelo Drive, Beverly Hills, Calif.

Filed Mar. 23, 1964, Ser. No. 353,701 6 Claims. (Cl. 49130) This application is a continuation-in-part application of our former application Serial No. 172,207 filed February 9, 1962, now abandoned.

This invention relates to improvements in sliding doors of the type in which two or more individually movable door panels assume a flush position when closed, thus presenting the pleasing appearance of a multipaneled flat wall or surface.

The invention provides an improved sliding door assembly which is particularly suited for cabinet or closet doors and in which two or more panels may be individu ally opened, closed or interchanged, so that, for example, any particular door panel of a multipanel assembly may be moved into any position, such as the left, central or right position of a three-panel closure without interference of knobs or individual tracks which in the past required handling of the doors in a predetermined order or sequence.

Multiple door panel arrangements are known in which two and three door panels are supported on a common bottom track long enough to accommodate two or three doors side by side in flush arrangement, and wide enough to accommodate two doors one behind another. In the known construction a plurality of springs associated with the bottom track act on the door panels from the rear and urge the door bottoms against a front lip on the track.

The known arrangement involves numerous disadvantages. The springs which urge the doors forward engage the panels at a point which shifts as the doors are being moved. The point of engagement is, for example, near the center in one door position and near one end in a different door position. The biasing spring force is uneven and depends on whether a spring is deflected slightly, as in the closed door position, or deflected by displacement of a single door which is being moved and is for this purpose pushed back slightly, or whether a spring is deflected greatly as in the position in which one door is behind another.

Furthermore, it is not possible to match the spring force to the weight of the door panel. The weight of doors varies depending on whether the door is narrow or wide, whether it is of hollow core construction or solid, or whether it contains a sheet of plate glass or not.

In order to make a spring biasing device reasonably dependable, it is necessary to employ substantial spring force ample to move the heaviest door panel even in the position of minimum spring deflection which is considerably in excess of the optimum. This makes the doors unnecessarily hard to move or open.

Finally, spring biasing means acting on door bottoms tend to collect dust and dirt and are unsightly when the doors are open.

The invention avoids spring biasing means and employs in their place a sloped biasing surface on which the doors rest, at least in their closing position, as well as in the position directly behind the closing position, and by reason of which slope both ends of a rearwardly displaced door move forward substantially equally, i.e., the door moving forward parallel to itself.

The sloped biasing surface is by no means an equivalent of the known spring biasing means, as the biasing force imparted to a door is determined by the weight of 3,28%,506 Patented Oct. 25, 1966 the door. The biasing force is thus greater for a heavy door, for example a wide door or a glass panel door than for a light door, such as a narrow door or a hollow core door. The biasing force is, in a sense, self regulating, which is not the case in spring operated biasing means where the biasing spring force must be matched to the heaviest door. Consequently no excessive biasing force is, or need be, exerted in the practice of the invention and the doors are movable with little effort.

It is known in this connection to set a stationary glass panel in an oversize channel comprising a slanted bottom for the purpose of urging the glass panel into close fitting engagement with the frame or channel in which it is mounted.

It is further known to mount a sliding glass panel in a channel of excessive width having a slanted bottom surface to urge the panel forward into better sealing position than would be obtained Without the slant. In the known arrangement no automatic regulation of the biasing force is achieved, as the stationary panel and the movable panel each rests in its own channel and no rearward displacement of the panel is provided for in contrast to the present invention where an interchange of panels is desirable and a rearward displacement of the panels is necessary in order to open normally flush fitting doors.

The present invention recognizes the age old observation that articles placed on a slope tend to move down the slope, but the invention involves the further recognition that it is possible in a multipanel door arrangement to limit the force required for rearwardly, and uphill, displacenient of a door to the force adequate for biasing the door in the opposite direction, which force is dependent on the weight of the door, and-that use of the much greater force required by a spring biasing device for moving one door behind another can be avoided as it is not necessary to provide for, and overcome in each instance, the maximum force required for biasing the heaviest possible combination of any two panels.

According to a preferred form of the invention the bottom portion of the door assembly comprises a slanted track common for all the doors on which the doors rest with their own weight. This track may be of a relatively simple channel construction and is free from spring devices as heretofore proposed for the purpose of urging the door panels forward to assume a flush position.

The bottom track comprises a slanted door supporting surface on which the doors are moved from side to side and on which the doors tend to move forward into flush closing position under the influence of gravity. The slanted surface extends throughout the range of engagement by the door panels in their opening and closing movement and exerts a forward bias on the door panels regardless of position, size or weight so that, for example, a three panel closure may be made up of three panels of different width of which each panel may assume any of three positions.

The individual doors of the improved assembly are opened by light pressure against a panel which is then slid laterally behind the adjacent panel. The adjacent panel may then be moved into the position of the panel previously displaced, or the latter may be restored to its original position in closing the aperture and the panels assume a flush position as soon as one panel clears the adjacent one.

It is known in this connection to provide in a two-door assembly a centrally disposed forwardly slanted ramp which engages the right end of the left door and the left end of the right door and exerts a forwardly biasing force thereon. The other ends of the doors move in curved tracks which force the other door ends forward when the doors approach their closing positions.

The known arrangement has the disadvantage that ice two hands are required to open a door, one hand for moving the door sideways by its knob, the other hand for pushing the door to the rear behind the other door.

This movement causes the door to jam because one end is rearwardly displaced up the ramp, while the other is still held forward in its track. Moreover, the width of the open door is limited by the fact that one door can never be moved fully behind the other, as the curved track deflects the opened door into the back of the closed one.

The door assembly embodying the present invention requires only one hand for opening and closing, and permits one door to be moved completely behind another so as to expose an opening of maximum width.

The various objects, features and advantages of this invention will appear more fully from the detailed description which follows accompanied by drawings showing, for the purpose of illustration, a preferred embodiment of the invention. The invention also resides in certain new and original features of construction and combination of elements hereinafter set forth and claimed.

Although the characteristic features of this invention which are believed to be novel will be particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto, the invention itself, its objects and advantages, and the manner in which it may be carried out, may be better understood by referring to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part of it in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cabinet fitted with doors incorporating the invention, one end of the cabinet being broken away;

FIG. 2 is a section taken on line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows the bottom portion of FIG. 2 on an enlarged scale, one door supporting element being shown in section;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section taken on line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a view of the top portion of the door assembly, the doors being shown in section taken on line 55 of FIG. 1; and

FIGS. 6 and 7 show modifications of the bottom portion of the door assembly.

In the following description and in the claims various details will be identified by specific names for convenience. The names, however, are intended to be generic in their application. Corresponding reference characters refer to corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

The drawings accompanying, and forming part of, this specification disclose certain specific details of construction for the purpose of explanation of broader aspects of the invention, but it is understood that structural details may be modified in various respects without departure from the principles of the invention and that the invention may be incorporated in other structural forms than shown.

A closet or cabinet space 10 is shown in FIG. 1 as being formed by a rear wall 11, bottom wall 12, top wall 13 and an end wall 14, the opposite end wall being broken away to show interior details. The door aperture 15 is provided with a sliding door assembly comprising door panels 16, 17 and 18, panel 17 being shown narrower than panels 16 and 18 to illustrate a feature of the invention.

The sliding panels are guided in a top track 19 and a bottom track or sill 20. These tracks are formed in channel structures made of extruded or machined metal, or of extruded or molded plastic and require only cutting to length to fit aparticular installation.

The top track 19 is formed in a channel structure 21 later to be described in greater detail and the bottom track is formed in a channel structure 22 comprising a front lip or stop 23 for limiting forward movement of the doors, a rear lip or stop 24 limiting rearward displacement of the doors and a forwardly and downwardly slanted door supporting upper surface 25. The chan nel structure 22 is secured to the bottom wall 12 by screws at extending through the forward slanted portion 25 and a rearward bottom flange 27.

The top channel structure comprises a front lip 28, a central wall portion 29 and a base portion 30 therebetween through which fastening screws 34 may extend to hold the structure in place in the door opening. From the central wall portion 21 a substantially horizontal face portion extends to a rear portion 32. The face portion 31 has a spring assembly 33 mounted thereon, for urging the door tops engaged by the top track in a forward direction against the front lip 28.

As seen in FIG. 1 the front lips 23 and 28 at bottom and top form a part of a frame overlapping the door panels marginally at the periphery of the door opening. The frame is completed by vertical stops or strips 35 at the end walls.

Details of the spring assembly are shown in FIG. 5. The assembly comprises a plurality of spring ur ed units, the number depending on the size of the door opening. Each of the units comprises a pusher bar 36engaging a spacer strip 37 on each door panel or the rear surface of the door panel proper.

The pusher bar 36 is hingedly connected by links 38 to a mounting bar 39 secured to the channel structure by screws 40.

The links 38 are connected to the bars 36 and 39 at pivots 44 and safety pin-type springs 41 having legs 42 and 43 urging the resulting parallelogram structure 39, 38, 36, 38 into an extended position, as shown in the right hand portion of FIG. 5.

The left hand portion of FIG. 5 shows door panels 17 and 18 in partially overlapping position, panel 17 being in front and panel 18 behind it. If either panel 17 or 18 is slid to the right it will first strike a link 38 with the e ge of the panel or the edge of the spacer strip which for this purpose may be beveled as shown at 47. As a result of the movement of the door panel the parallelogram struc ture is caused to collapse partially, in which position it urges the door panel toward the front lip 28. As soon as the trailing edge of the panel 17 moves past the right edge of panel 18 the panels assume a flush position by reason of the. spring pressure exerted against the door tops.

As seen from FIGS. Zand 5 the depth of the top track, which is the dimension between lip 28 and portion 29, is sufficient to accommodate two door panels one behind the other. Similarly, the collapsibility of the spring assemblies is equally sufficient to permit two panels to pass between them and the front lip 28.

The spring bias acting on the door tops supplements the gravity induced tendency of the door bottoms to move forward against the front lip on the slanted door supporting surface 25 of the bottom track.

The doors rest on the slanted surface 25 with friction reducing elements permitting lateral as well as front to back motion. As shown in FIG. 7 such elements 51 may have the form of gliding shoes or blocks 53 of a material having a low coefficient of friction such as tetrafiuoroethylene polymer plastic commercially known to the trade as Teflon. The shoes are attached to the door panels by pins 52.

The door supporting elements may also be constructed to encounter rolling rather than gliding friction. As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, balls 54 in mountings 55 fitted with a mounting flange 56 may be secured to the door bottoms by screws 57 extending through holes 64, of which at least one may be elongated for adjustment purposes. The ball assembly comprises further a base portion 58 to which a ball socket or shell 59 is secured by rivets oil.

The door panel is provided with a cutout 61 to accommodate the socket 59 and a portion of a bottom space strip 50 may also be cut away as shown in FIG. 3. The

top portion of the ball socket has sloping ball fitting walls 62 and the bottom portion is appropriately flared at 63.

FIG. 6 illustrates a relatively flat form of bottom track or sill particularly suited for closets. The profile 70 comprises a slanted door supporting portion 71, a rearward curved lip or stop 72, a downwardly sloping portion 73 terminating in a flat flange 74 through which mounting screws 75 extend into the fioor F.

The slanted door supporting portion may comprise a slight depression 71a in which the antifriction member such as ball 54 normally rests when the doors are in fiush closing position. A forward curved lip 76 retains the door panels on the track 71. A forward sloping portion 77 and flange 78 extend forward of the track portion 71 proper.

The slanted door panel supporting surface 25, 71 extends preferably throughout the range of engagement by the door panels or the antifriction elements or engagement means thereon, so that the doors are urged by gravity toward the front stop or flange 23, 76 in any position on the sill, both in abutting side-by-side position and in stacked position in which one door panel is behind another. Under these circumstances there is no limitation on the width or weight of the panels, and panels of unequal width or weight may be combined in the same assembly. In all instances the biasing force imparted to each panel is proportional to its weight and correspondingly the force for rearward displacement is dependent only on the weight of the panel being displaced.

The spring assembly of FIG. 5 is shown to illustrate a form of device for urging the door tops forward. Obviously other spring devices may be employed for that purpose.

These and other modifications and adaptations will be evident to persons skilled in the art on the basis of this description.

What is claimed is:

1. A flush closing sliding door assembly for a structural door opening, the assembly comprising, in combination, a plurality of vertically disposed sliding doors; a common door supporting sill for said doors, said sill having an undivided forwardly downwardly slanted track surface on which said doors rest at an oblique angle with respect to said surface, said surface being of a width sufficient to support two doors, one directly behind the other, and each door having freedom to be displaced rearwardly parallel to itself from the forward closing position into a raised rear position directly behind the forward position, said surface being of a length sufiicient to support the doors at their points of engagement therewith at the extreme left and right closing positions and at all positions therebetween, said slanted surface imparting a forward bias on the doors over the entire length of the surface; stop means adjacent the lowest portion of said supporting surface for limiting the forward movement of the doors; and guide means for engaging the top portion of the doors at the top of the opening, said guide means including resilient elements for urging the doors in a forward direction, said elements being sufficiently displaceable to accommodate two doors in a position one behind the other, said guide means further including means for limiting the freedom of forward movement of the tops of the doors to the position in which the doors are vertical in closed condition.

2. A flush closing sliding door assembly for a structural door opening, the assembly comprising, in combination, a plurality of sliding doors including, at their bottoms, engagement means by which said doors rest on the track surface hereinafter recited, the longitudinal spread of the engagement mean being less than the length of the respective doors; a common door supporting sill for said doors, said sill having an undivided forwardly downwardly slanted track surface on which said engagement means rest with the doors vertically disposed and at an oblique angle with respect to said surface, aid surface being of a width sufiicient to support two doors,

one directly behind the other, and each door having freedom to be displaced rearwardly parallel to itself from the forward closing position into a raised rear position directly behind the forward position, said surface being of a length sufficient to be engaged by said engagement means at the extreme left and right closing positions and at all positions therebetween, said slanted surface imparting a forward bias on the doors over the entire length of the surface; stop means adjacent the lowest portion of said supporting surface for limiting the forward movement of the doors; and guide means for engaging the top portion of the doors at the top of the opening, said guide means including resilient elements for urging the door in a forward direction, said elements being sufficiently displaceable to accommodate two door in a position one behind the other, said guide means further including means for limiting the freedom of forward movement of the tops of the doors to the position in which the doors are vertical in closed condition.

3. A fiush closing sliding door assembly for a structural door opening, the assembly comprising, in combination, three sliding doors including at their bottoms, engagement means by which aid doors rest on the track surface hereinafter recited, the longitudinal spread of the engagement means being less than the length of the respective doors; a common door supporting sill for said doors, said sill having an undivided forwardly downwardly slanted track surface on which said engagement means rest with the doors vertically disposed and at an oblique angle with respect to said surface, said surface being of a width sufficient to support two doors, one directly behind the other, and each door having freedom to be displaced rearwardly parallel to itself from the forward closing position into a raised rear position directly behind the forward position, said surface being of a length ufiicient to be engaged by said engagement means at the extreme left and right closing positions and at all positions therebetween, said slanted surface imparting a forward bias on the doors over the entire length of the surface; stop means adjacent the lowest'portion of said supporting surface for limiting the forward movement of the doors; and guide means for engaging the top portion of the doors at the top of the opening, said guide means including resilient elements for urging the door in a forward direction, said elements being sufficiently displaceable to accommodate two doors in a position one behind the other, said guide means further including means for limiting the freedom of forward movement of the tops of the doors to the position in which the doors are vertical in closed condition.

4. A flush closing sliding door assembly for a structural door opening, the assembly comprising, in combination, a plurality of vertically disposed sliding doors; a door supporting sill On which said doors rest, said sill being of a width sufficient to support two doors, one directly behind the other, and each door having freedom to be displaced rearwardly from the forward closing position into a rear position directly behind the forward closing position, said sill being of a length sufiicient to support the doors at their points of engagement therewith at the extreme left and right closing positions and at all positions therebetween, said sill comprising, for longitudinally spaced bearing point near the ends of the doors, a forwardly downwardly slanted biasing surface with respect to which the vertical doors are disposed at an oblique angle and are biased at both ends of each door to move forward under the influence of gravity in said extreme left and right closing positions; stop means for limiting the forward movement of the doors; and guide means for engaging the top portion of the doors at the top of the opening, said guide means including resilient elements for urging the door in a forward-direction, said elements being sufiiciently displaceable to accommodate two doors in a position one behind the other, said guide means further including means for limiting the freedom of forward movement of the tops of the doors to the position in which the doors are vertical in closed condition.

5. A flush closing sliding door assembly for a structural door opening, the assembly comprising, in combination, a plurality of sliding doors including, at their bottoms, engagement means by which said doors rest on the sill hereinafter recited, the longitudinal spread of the engagement means being less than the length of the respective doors; a door supporting sill on which said doors rest by their engagement means, said sill being of a width sufficient to support two doors, one directly behind the other, and each door having freedom to be displaced parallel to itself from a forward closing position into a rear position directly behind the forward closing position, said sill being of a length sufiicient to support the doors, by their engagement means, at the extreme left and right closing positions and at all positions therebetween, said sill comprising for said engagement means a forwardly downwardly slanted biasing surface with respect to which the vertical doors are disposed at an oblique angle and are biased at both ends of each door to move forward under the influence of gravity in said extreme left and right closing positions; stop means for limiting the forward movement of the doors; and guide means for engaging the top portion of the doors at the top of the opening, said guide means including resilient elements for urging the door in a forward direction, said elements being sufficiently displaceable to accommodate two doors in a position one behind the other, said guide means further including means for limiting the freedom of forward movement of the top of the doors to the position in which the doors are vertical in closed condition.

6. A flush closing sliding door assembly for a structural door opening, the assembly comprising, in combination, three sliding doors including, at their bottoms,

engagement means by which said doors rest on the sill hereinafter recited, the longitudinal spread of the engagement means being less than the length of the respective doors; a door supporting sill on which said doors rest by their engagement means, said sill being of a width sufficient to support two doors, one directly behind the other, and each door having freedom to be displaced parallel to itself from a forward closing position into a rear position directly behind the forward closing position, said sill being of a length sufficient to support the doors, by their engagement means, at their respective closing positions including the extreme left and right closing positions and at all positions therebetween, said sill comprising for said engagement means a forwardly downwardly slanted biasing surface with respect to which the vertical doors are disposed at an oblique angle and are biased at both ends of each door to move forward under the influence of gravity in said closing positions, stop means for limiting the forward movement of the doors; and guide means for engaging the top portion of the doors at the top of the opening, said guide means including resilient elements for urging the door in a forward direction, said elements being sufficiently displaceable to accommodate two doors in a position one behind the other, said guide means further including means for limiting the freedom of forward movement of the tops of the doors to the position in which the doors are vertical in closed condition.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 841,378 1/1907 Curtis 20-19 2,644,205 7/1953 Karp 20-19 2,899,252 8/1959 Rolfe 20-19 2,949,647 8/1960 Migneault 2011 HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner.

K. DOWNEY, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A FLUSH CLOSING SLIDING DOOR ASSEMBLY FOR A STRUCTURAL DOOR OPENING, THE ASSEMBLY COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A PLURALITY OF VERTICALLY DISPOSED SLIDING DOORS; A COMMON DOOR SUPPORTING SILL FOR SAID DOORS, SAID SILL HAVING AN UNDIVIDED FORWARDLY DOWNWARDLY SLANTED TRACK SURFACE ON WHICH SAID DOORS REST AT AN OBLIQUE ANGLE WITH RESPECT TO SAID SURFACE, SAID SURFACE BEING OF A WIDTH SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT TWO DOORS, ONE DIRECTLY BEHIND THE OTHER, AND EACH DOOR HAVING FREEDOM TO BE DISPLACED REARWARDLY PARALLEL TO ITSELF FROM THE FORWARD CLOSING POSITION INTO A RAISED REAR POSITION DIRECTLY BEHIND THE FORWARD POSITION, SAID SURFACE BEING OF A LENGTH SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT THE DOORS AT THEIR POINTS OF ENGAGEMENT THEREWITH AT THE EXTREME LEFT AND RIGHT CLOSING POSITIONS AND AT ALL POSITIONS THEREBETWEEN, SAID SLANTED SURFACE IMPARTING A FORWARD BIAS ON THE DOORS OVER THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF THE SURFACE; STOP MEANS ADJACENT THE LOWEST PORTION OF SAID SUPPORTING SURFACE FOR LIMITING THE FORWARD MOVEMENT OF THE DOORS; AND GUIDE MEANS FOR ENGAGING THE TOP PORTION OF THE DOORS AT THE TOP OF THE OPENING, SAID GUIDE MEANS INCLUDING RESILIENT ELEMENTS FOR URGING THE DOORS IN A FORWARD DIRECTION, SAID ELEMENTS BEING SUFFICIENTLY DISPLACEABLE TO ACCOMMODATE TWO DOORS IN A POSITION ONE BEHIND THE OTHER, SAID GUIDE MEANS FURTHER INCLUDING MEANS FOR LIMITING THE FREEDOM OF FORWARD MOVEMENT OF THE TOPS OF THE DOORS TO THE POSITION IN WHICH THE DOORS ARE VERTICAL CLOSED CONDITION. 